I realised I hadn’t written a blog post on here for a long long time, sorry! It’s usually a sign that things are busy but no excuse really as it may look as though I’m not here any more. And I definitely am!
Lampshade orders are still busy and I have also run a few workshops already this year so all good. I’m also getting more and more into my art and on my second booking of a printmaking course at South Hill Park every Monday which I absolutely love. I’ve found my thing (aside from lampshades of course!) I’m working on a website for that at the moment so I’ll share it once it’s up and running.
I also work part time in Toast in Marlow which has been amazing for the social side and also for inspiration for my art. It means my lead time for lampshades is 3 weeks (but often quicker). I’m just trying to keep time in my diary for art every week rather than rushing through orders and running out of time for it. It’s all about balance isn’t it?!
So here you go, a few of the lampshades I have made recently. You can find lots more on my instagram feed here.
Get in touch if you’d like a lampshade made or recovered, I’d love to hear from you.
And if you’d like to follow my printmaking journey too, you’ll find me at Julie Gardner Art here. Thank you!
I thought it was a good time to do a round up of last year, we are over half way through January after all! I always find it helpful to look through and realise how much I’ve achieved.
gilhoolie 2021 highlights went a bit like this (see images below from left to right):
My workshop was built in our garden in the spring of 2021. Oh my goodness, it’s amazing! So nice to have a dedicated space to be creative, as well as somewhere to greet lampshade customers (and store all those ring sets!)
I attended a brilliant lino cutting workshop near Oxford which reignited my passion for the craft. It’s on my list to do more of this year. Read about my day here.
I made lots more bespoke machine embroidered lampshades – this is one of my favourites, I love the yellow French knots. I have just finished a commission but will be starting some more of my own designs very soon, watch this space! See more in my shop.
As 3 above – this is the finished lampshade – colourful flowers embroidered onto a natural linen fabric, with a navy braid on the top and bottom rings.
Gold lined lampshades were very popular with clients – this one was made using a striking wallpaper, with mirrored gold lining and a dusky pink trim.
I reached 1000 followers on Instagram – quite an achievement for me, and I enjoyed embroidering this foxglove to commemorate it!
I made lots of little candle clip lampshades and particularly liked this fabric from Charlotte Gaisford, they worked out beautifully.
gilhoolie house illustrations – these are still going on in the background and I’m always over the moon when I’m commissioned to draw one. Drawn in black ink, with a printed gilhoolie patterned sky, a message at the bottom and the option to add a pet (I’ll do my best to capture a likeness!) This was of a family holiday home, a bit different from the usual requests but great fun to draw.
Last but not least, we had to say goodbye to our much loved miniature schnauzer Arthur just before Christmas. I’m still heartbroken but feeling a lot better (most of the time…)
I think I’ll write a separate blog post on my plans for 2022, I’m still going through ideas in my head, in amongst working on lots of lampshade orders!
My workshop
Lino printing in OxfordFrench knots embroiderygilhoolie embroidered lampshadeGold lined wallpaper lampshade1000 followers on Insta!Candle clip lampshadesgilhoolie house drawingLovely little Arthur
I thought it was about time I shared some pics on here of my new lampshade workshop. It was built in our garden over a couple of months earlier this year. You know when you think, ah it’ll only take 2 weeks and then it turns into 2 or 3 months?! Well, that was partly our fault as we added some landscaping to the garden too, with a new garden path, a new flowerbed and two new raised beds for growing veggies.
Before I show you, I thought I’d mention why this is a good thing for my clients too, not just a nice space for me to work in. From now on when you come to collect a lampshade order, or come to enquire about lampshades, you can come round the back of our house to my workshop. There you’ll find lots of lampshade ring sizes to choose from, lampshade PVC lining samples as well as my plain fabric selection (a cotton from Villa Nova Seville). You can even bring your lamp with you if you like so that we can see what shapes and sizes will look best. I don’t have lots of samples of lampshades I’m afraid (being bespoke, everything I make goes out the workshop pretty much straight away). But I can also draw out your lamp base to size to help you visualise things.
This is my daily commute from the back door, across the patio and up the garden path:
I have been working out here now for a few months and I absolutely love it. The first week felt a bit strange being away from the house but now I’m so glad we did it. My lampshade ‘stuff’ (ring sets, PVC, cutting mats, equipment, art bits and bobs, lots of fabric remnants) had started to take over the house. And as I was using the dining room table I had to tidy everything away at the end of each day. Not great but on the other hand I also loved the space in the house and it worked well enough for nearly ten years…
My new workshop isn’t far from the house and it looks out onto our new veg patches, with peas, broad beans, rhubarb, raspberries, lettuce, beetroot and tomatoes. There is a new crunchy pebble path that leads from the patio to the workshop which feels a bit like walking on a beach but is also great as I can hear people coming up it towards me! I tend to get very absorbed in what I’m doing and am easily spooked otherwise!
We planned out what would go inside early on and I’m really happy with our finds, including:
A great workbench from Arbor Garden Solutions – it’s on wheels and is at the perfect height for standing and cutting PVC. No more back ache! There is also lots of storage underneath for PVC and ring sets.
A gorgeous quirky desk chair from Anthropologie (very me!) and a cute little bamboo desk from Ikea which is perfect for my laptop but also for my sewing machine.
A green metal trolley from Ikea – so handy for all my lampshade tools – no more hunting around in my tool box, everything is really accessible now.
The cupboard and shelving unit came from our house and were soon filled with fabric off cuts, my growing collection of botanical books and my embroidered lampshades.
Of course, Arthur has a bed out here too and usually comes and joins me while I’m working. Otherwise he’ll be wandering around in the garden next to me.
The walls and ceiling are painted in Little Greene Boxington and the woodwork is Olive Green. I decided to be bold, this space will be great for experimenting in interiors as well as art and lampshades! My next project in between lampshade orders and machine embroidery is to paint a mural on one of the walls of lots of flowers and leaves from my sketchbook. It’ll take a while but there’s no rush, I want to just add to it a bit at a time rather than planning it out. I’ll post more photos on here and Instagram once I have done some more (just a few flowers at the moment, it feels very strange drawing on a newly painted wall!)
I’m looking forward to welcoming lots more lampshade clients to my workshop. I’ve already had a handful collect their lampshades from here and it feels so much nicer and more professional than coming to the front door of our house. I just need to sort out a sign for deliveries as my husband is getting fed up having to take them all the time! I’ll add it to my list of things to do…
It’s Arthur puppy’s first birthday this week, I can’t believe how fast the last year has flown! Life has definitely changed and to anyone thinking about getting a dog, (well a miniature schnauzer at least as I don’t have experience of any others) I would definitely say go for it. I can’t think of any negatives so far. Not particularly liking the mud at the moment but hopefully it won’t last too long…
Actually, I have just looked back at my blog posts and I haven’t written on here since we collected him last May so apologies for that! Here are some pics of the cheeky chap. Along with a little drawing of Arthur by me (one of my husband’s Christmas presents).
Now, the next blog post will be about lampshades, I promise! Things have been pretty busy at gilhoolie lately so lots to write about. And I’m trying hard to get back into drawing so I think posting on here will help motivate me 🙂
Well, I’m home alone for the first day with our new little addition – Arthur the miniature schnauzer puppy! Otherwise known as Arthur Daley, King Arthur, Arf a cucumber!!!
He came home with us on Saturday and had the best bank holiday weekend ever. Such an intelligent cheeky little chap, we love him to bits already.
gilhoolie is still open for business as usual although I may have to make lampshades when he’s sleeping or when the boys get home from school to start off with. But that’s fine. It’s been good to slow down and just watch him growling at pine cones and chasing his tiny blue tennis ball around the patio in the sunshine this morning.
I promise not to bore you with too many cute puppy photos but I’m afraid he may become a bit of a celebrity on here as he keeps me company while I’m working.
Restoring a treasured lampshade for a client has to be one of the best things I get to do at gilhoolie.
Jules from Flackwell Heath had two 1960s, very unusual shaped lampshades that her mum had bought many years ago. They were looking very sorry for themselves but still in use by Jules.
The lampshades were originally made from silk fabric stitched to cardboard and then stitched again to a metal frame. I’ve never seen anything like them and totally understood why Jules wanted to revive them if at all possible. You certainly wouldn’t be able to find replacements in a high street shop!
The whole process started with Jules sending me photos and measurements of the two lampshades. As she isn’t far from Maidenhead we met up and talked about options for fabrics and I checked that the frames weren’t misshapen so that I could reuse them. All part of the service 🙂 Jules sourced a beautiful orange silk fabric that would look amazing when the lampshades were lit. Most fabrics are fine; you just don’t want to choose anything too thick or fabric that frays really easily.
Here is one of the original lampshades – a bit torn and battered as you can see, but the frames were fine.
Original 1960s lampshade ready for gilhoolie restoration
The lampshades were taken apart so that I could use the cardboard as a template for cutting new PVC for the new silk fabric. What a lot of dust and quite a tricky operation to make sure it all came off in one piece – it was over 50 years old after all! You can see the panel goes round in a spiral but the two ends don’t meet so this had to be taken into account.
Very sad looking lampshade frame
Quite a lot of patient, careful work (and breath holding!) later and the lampshades came back to life. What a transformation! (Scroll down to see). Always exciting when I stand back and look, especially when I know how treasured they are.
Jules was really pleased with the result and said her mum would’ve been happy too. I love a happy customer! To top it all off she gave me an original 1960s lampshade book that was in her family as a thank you gift – what a lovely surprise. It’s the little things and gestures that can make your day!
You can see the lampshades below in my workshop, and then in Jules’ garden when she got home, on the original 1960s vintage glass bases.
If you have a lampshade you would like restoring just get in touch with photos and measurements and I’ll get back to you.
Shiny happy new lampshadesLooking even more happy on their original bases
We discovered this National Trust property quite a few years ago and have been going back regularly ever since. It is definitely one of my favourites – the house is quite small and incredibly homely; you can imagine the Brunner family living there. And the gardens (with it’s ancient wisteria) are very English and beautiful, surrounded by lush rolling hills. Perfect for an escape from the hustle and bustle, with lunch or a cream tea in the lovely cowshed tearoom.
It’s one of the places I never get bored of visiting, so I knew it had to be on my list of local buildings to draw.
Here it is:
Greys Court, National Trust Property, near Henley-on-Thames
This one was quite tricky, with lots of detail in the brickwork. I particularly like the green benches! 🙂
I’ll be displaying this one on my stand at Art on the Street on Saturday, 17th June – come and see it / me! You’ll be able to buy a gilhoolie print or order a personalised drawing of your own favourite building.
When I was younger people used to go on pub crawls quite a lot. Now the number of pubs in our towns is decreasing and being taken over by coffee shops and restaurants. I really like coffee shops but there’s nothing like a British pub; for a cosy night out in the winter and a great pub garden and a glass of Pimms in the summer.
We decided to go on a pub crawl a few weeks ago with friends; instead of our usual trip to a local restaurant. It was so much fun! Everyone chatted to everyone else while we were in the pubs… and while we were stumbling from one to the next. Whereas we’re usually all sat at a long table; only able to talk to the handful of people near you. Luckily there were only six pubs so we didn’t have to drink too much (I’m a bit of a light weight!) – there were thirteen in the same stretch of road in Cookham years ago!
These 2 pubs aren’t my locals but they are in Maidenhead and they’re in lovely old buildings. The good thing about being an artist is it makes you more mindful of what’s around you and what would make a good subject to draw. I look up a lot too, for some odd reason I love old chimney pots and roof details…
I’ll be printing these out and bringing them along to Art on the Street on Saturday, 17th June – come and see me!
The Hand & Flowers, Maidenhead. With gilhoolie patterned sky.The Bell, Maidenhead.
Very quick blog post today I’m afraid. I’m not sure where the week has gone, feel like I’m on a bit of a roller-coaster really. But I didn’t want to miss writing on here. It’s so easy to get out of the habit so I must make sure I find time.
I know I mentioned in passing a couple of blog posts ago that I’m taking part in this local art event but I thought it was worth it’s own post really so here we go.
Art on the Street CIC is an award-winning social enterprise committed to providing opportunities for artists. Twice a year we showcase over 100 stands of fine art, prints and photography being sold direct from the artist, to a backdrop of fantastic entertainment – music, performances, free workshops, activities and street food.
I’ve been before and often found several artists whose work I really like; there’s a lot of talented people out there. I always think they have a lot of guts to stand up and show off their work in front of everyone.
And now I’m doing it too!
No big deal though; I’m sharing a stand and going to treat it as a day out, hopefully the rain we’ve been having lately passes by then! It’s on Saturday, 17th June, put the date in your diary and come and visit me… please!
Okay, so I’m treating it as a day out… but I still want to produce some really good work that’s worth showing. The idea is to concentrate on my house commission drawings this time. I’ve done an awful lot of them so I’m going to pick my favourites and try to draw some more in the next month. Then people can order commissions on the day.
I’ve also been working on some of my drawings of local buildings this week. Below is the Cliveden drawing I completed quite a while ago. I decided to add my patterned sky to see how it looked and I’m playing with other patterns too so I’ll post those another time. I absolutely love going to Cliveden; never get bored of it. My kids do though – they refuse to come now, must be all the times I took them when they were little, ah well, more scones with cream and jam for me! 😉
I’m sure I’ll write more about what I’m working on for Art on the Street so watch this space, or do come and see me on the day.
What a busy week. My mind has been buzzing with ideas for next month’s Art on the Street so I spent the day yesterday working on that. Mostly looking at old house pictures I’ve drawn and playing around with Photoshop, great fun. I’ve realised I need to be structured with my time, so Thursdays are my day for art stuff and nothing else. It really works. I also feel like I achieved a lot this week – I managed to book a summer holiday (what a relief!), squeezed in lots of exercise and even did a bit of gardening.
This week I thought I’d share with you some drawing commissions from last month. They were in the same order but very different – one of an old land rover and one of a very nice big house in the countryside in Herefordshire.
The land rover was drawn in ink, then coloured in Photoshop and giclee printed on lovely textured paper. I found a lady in Maidenhead who does art prints from her house very near me which is great and saves lots on postage. So I hope to do more of this in the future. That’s the plan. Drawing the car was a bit of a challenge as the real one is in pieces at the moment, thank goodness for Google!!
Land rover mark 1 drawing commission
I drew an old Volkswagen car a while ago with the same kind of effect – see it below.
gilhoolie car drawing commission
The house was just drawn in ink, then cut out and stuck to a patterned sky background. Not such a clean finish but I think people like them for that reason.
Here they are together, in their mounts, ready to be wrapped in tissue paper.
Get in touch if you’d like to order a house (or car!) drawing commission, or come and see me on Saturday 17th June at Art on the Street in Maidenhead, not long now…
